WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio joined with ten other lawmakers in sending a message to President Joe Biden and his administration.
The Senator says this is to help bring down fuel prices, as the national labor shortage continues to make fuel distribution more difficult.
More and more service stations across the Buckeye State are running out of gas as fewer truckers are on America’s highways.
Senator Sherrod Brown in a letter to President Biden urged the administration to “consider all tools available at their disposal to lower U.S. gasoline prices. This includes a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and a ban on crude oil exports. We hope you will consider these tools and others to make gasoline more affordable for all Americans.”
The Senators added, “We share the administration’s concerns that the decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and others to purposefully manipulate gas prices by constraining supply, as well as the choice of domestic leaseholders and producers to continue to export U.S. petroleum, threaten to send already record prices even higher,” wrote lawmakers.
“Continued U.S. exports and overseas supply collusion could be devastating to many in our states, contributing to higher bills for American families and businesses.”
Exerts say several factors have contributed to rising prices at the pump. Oil producers in the U.S. slowed production during the height of the pandemic. Several companies laid off thousands of employees. Since that time, officials say, labor has not returned to full capacity.
In addition to COVID-19 and the growing labor shortage, OPEC nations including Saudi Arabia have drastically limited crude production.
According to AAA, “the national average price for a gallon of gasoline is the highest it has been since 2014, with an increase of more than $1 per gallon since this time last year.”
Senators Brown (D-OH), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bob Casey (D-PA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) all included their signatures.